Hopeless Sports Fan

I wrote about this subject a few years ago, but I have updated and expanded my hopeless sports outlook.  Spoiler alert: my favorite teams still suck...

Some people are hopeless romantics. I am a hopeless sports fan. My favorite teams find new and seemingly impossible ways to lose every year. I am so used to mediocrity that I started to feel guilty when one of my favorite teams won a championship – so much so that this particular team is no longer my favorite. This is my story…

University of Virginia

I attended Hampden-Sydney College, a small liberal arts college in Virginia that plays Division III sports, but my dad went to UVA so I have been a fan of the “Hoos” since as early as I can remember. Unfortunately, I was born in 1981 and am not old enough to remember Ralph Sampson.

I would like to think I’d still be a UVA fan even if I had gone to another school with Division I sports, but it was easy to remain a UVA fan since I went to a D-III school. Sometimes people say to me, “but you didn’t go to UVA.” First of all, I’m cheering for the athletic teams, not for the ranking of the academic institution in U.S. News & World Report. More importantly, for the most part is it not fun to be a UVA fan. I didn’t ask for this pain and suffering. I’m not “that guy” who roots for Duke basketball and Alabama football (but none of the other sports). Being a UVA fan brings far more sorrow than enjoyment – at least when it comes to revenue-generating sports. If you want national championships in soccer, lacrosse, rowing, and tennis, then UVA is your team. On the other hand, UVA basketball and football – with a few exceptions* – have been an embarrassment of epic proportions over the last 20 years.

 

(*UVA basketball is currently 23-5 overall and 14-1 in the ACC, but longtime UVA fans are still cautiously pessimistic about the team's ACC Tournament and Final Four chances)

UVA fans got spoiled in the 90s and started to grumble that a Sweet 16 trip in hoops and a 7-4 football season capped off with a middle-of-the-road bowl game just didn’t cut it. These days, a trip to a bowl game sponsored by a mortgage company or a low-end department store and an invitation to a March Madness play-in game would be cause for celebration in Charlottesville.

A perfect illustration of the heartbreak UVA fans endure is the 1990 football season. The Hoos were 7-0 and ranked #1 in the nation for the first (and still the only) time in school history when they played Georgia Tech at home. Down 3 points in the 4^th quarter, UVA had two illegal procedure penalties inside of the Georgia Tech 1-yard line, the second of which nullified a touchdown. UVA settled for a game-tying field goal with two and a half minutes left. Georgia Tech went on win 41-38 on a game-winning field goal en route to a co-national championship. The loss started a downward spiral for the Hoos that culminated with squandering a 16-0 lead against Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl and a disappointing 8-4 finish.

 

And those were the golden years. Is it lax season yet?

Detroit Lions

I have no connection to Detroit, but in 1990 I randomly decided to become a Detroit Lions fan even though just about all of my friends were Redskins fans. Of course, the Redskins won the Super Bowl in 1992 so Redskins fans should be thankful that I did not declare my allegiance to the gold and burgundy in 1990. I have no idea why I chose the Lions, but Detroit drafted UVA wide receiver Herman Moore in 1991 so the decision made more sense at that point.

In my lifetime, the Lions have exactly one playoff win. They have never been to a Super Bowl. They usually ruin my Thanksgiving. Calvin Johnson will likely end up being considered a top 5 receiver of all-time, and halfway through his career he has managed to play in one playoff game. The Lions failed to win their division this season despite serious injuries to division rivals Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler. Nonetheless, I have a good feeling about next year – which is probably a recipe for a letdown.

Boston Red Sox

This is where things get strange. When I was growing up in Virginia, the closest major league baseball team was the Baltimore Orioles, but I was always more of a Cal Ripken fan than an Orioles fan. During a family vacation to Boston in 1995, I went to three games at Fenway, and it was a life-changing experience. I instantly became a Red Sox fan.

At the time, of course, the Red Sox had not won a title since 1918. Keep in mind that the Sox didn’t have Nomar, Manny, or Big Papi back then (Nomar was called up in 1996). Mo Vaughn was probably the best player on the ’95 team. Boston was usually a playoff team, but it’s not as if I were hopping on a bandwagon. It wasn’t as if I had become a Yankees fan in 2000 after they had won four of the last five World Series (as many people did). In fact, the Red Sox missed the playoffs in five of the first eight seasons of my fandom. The heartbreak of the 2003 ALCS and Aaron F’ing Boone felt real to me. The improbable comeback against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS and subsequent World Series victory was the first championship I had ever experienced as a fan– at age 23. I enjoyed the 2004 MLB postseason more than any other that I can remember.

 

But then something unexpected happened: I started to feel guilty.

Sure, I had been a Sox fan for nine years, but I didn’t feel like a real Bostonian. I felt as if I didn’t deserve to celebrate as much as lifelong Sox fans. Even worse, after the 2004 World Series, I hated when people asked me my favorite baseball team. I wasn’t“that guy” who buys the new lid as soon as a new team wins a championship, but I felt like him.

Despite my winner’s guilt, I remained a Red Sox fan. I should have been ecstatic that the Sox brought another World Series title back to Beantown in 2007, but my jubilation was outweighed by a sense that I was being thrown off the bandwagon. I was happy to see Boston win yet another title in 2013, and I was rooting for them in the World Series, but ever since 2007 I have been cheering for a team that better fits my personality, my sensibility, and my ever-present yearning to be disappointed by all of my favorite teams.

Washington Nationals

 

I am a Nats fan for two reasons: 1) they are the closest team to my current home of Richmond and 2) my favorite player Ryan Zimmerman played at UVA. All you need to know about why rooting for this team perpetuates my status as a hopeless sports fan is the following: in 2012, the Nats not only made the playoffs but also had the best record in MLB and home field advantage throughout the entire playoffs (thanks to a National League All-Star win). However, the Nats decided to shut down their best pitcher (Stephen Strasburg) just prior to the playoffs and lost in the deciding game of the divisional series (after giving up 4 runs in the last inning). Strasburg came back fresh in 2013…and the Nats missed the playoffs. Sounds about right.

 

Dear UVA, Detroit Lions, and Washington Nationals, it’s not you, it’s me. Actually, it’s you. But I know the bubbly is going to taste sweet when if we get that elusive championship one of these days. And there will be no winner’s guilt next time.

ACC Hoops Midseason Report

The ACC hoops season has not gone exactly as I expected.  The league is much more top heavy than I predicted -- instead of 8 or 9 teams dancing, the ACC will get 6 at the most.  I did not expect there to be any cupcakes in the league, but Virginia Tech and Boston College have been getting pushed around by everyone.

The pleasant suprises are UVA (I picked them 3rd but did not expect a 10-1 start) and Clemson (6-4, I picked them 14th) while Georgia Tech and Notre Dame have been disappointing.

Here are the current league standings (compared to where I picked them preseason):

1) Syracuse (2)
2) UVA (3)
3) Duke (1)
4) Pitt (6)
5) UNC (4)
6) Clemson (14)
7) Maryland (7)
8) NC State (11)
9) Florida State (10)
10) Wake Forest (12)
11) Georgia Tech (8)
12) Notre Dame (5)
13) Miami (13)
14) Boston College (9)
15) Virginia Tech (15)

1) Syracuse: The Orange are 10-0 in the league and 23-0 overall.  As expected, C.J. Fair leads the team in scoring, but you could make a strong argument that freshman point guard Tyler Ennis is the most valuable player on the squad.  He leads the league in assists and rarely turns the ball over.  I expect the Cuse to lose at least one conference game (still have away games at Duke, UVA, Pitt, and Maryland), but they should land the #1 seed in the East Regional -- which means they won't have to leave the state of New York until the Final Four.

2) UVA: I predicted that this year's team would be UVA's best in 20 years.  After a 9-4 start and a 35-point beatdown at Tennessee, that seemed like a foolish prediction.  11 games (and 10 wins) later, I stand by the statement.  No one in the nation plays better team defense than UVA.  The offensive production is by committee, but Malcolm Brogdon always seems to get a bucket when the Hoos really need it.  I like that Joe Harris is an unselfish player, but UVA needs him to look to score a little more often.  London Perrantes, much like Tyler Ennis, is a freshman point guard who plays well beyond his years and has a calming influence when running the halfcourt offense.  I expect UVA to end up with a 5-seed in the NCAA tourney.

3) Duke: Duke is starting to look like a top 10 team.  Coach K is giving Andre Dawkins and Rasheed Sulaimon some more minutes, and they have responded well.  In my opinion, those two should be getting much more playing time than Tyler Thornton.  Amile Jefferson has thrived in a supporting role, and he is Duke's only viable big man.  Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood have been as good as advertised.  Don't be surprised to see Duke win the ACC tournament and get a 2-seed in the Big Dance.

4) Pitt: Lamar Patterson and James Robinson lead the way for Pitt.  The Panthers have been very solid all year long, but some critics have questioned their strength of schedule.  Close overtime wins over Miami and Virginia Tech this week have not helped that perception.  They are safely in the NCAAs, but the next few weeks will determine if they get as high as a 6 seed or drop as far as a 10 seed.

5) UNC: The Heels have come on strong in the last few weeks, winning five conference games in a row.  They get Duke at home on Wednesday so we should find out just how good they are.  Without P.J. Hairston, the Heels only have one reliable shooter in Marcus Paige.  I expect them to get invited to March Madness, but their stay will be a short one.

6) Clemson: Clemson is UVA with a little less talent.  They play tenacious defense and keep their games in the 50s, but they often do not score enough to win.  Clemson is 6-4 in the league, but they probably need to finish at least 11-7 in the ACC to get an NCAA bid.  Their schedule is manageable enough to do so. 

7) Maryland: The Terps are leaving the ACC exactly as I expected them to: as an average, middle of the road team.  They have enough talent to make a run and have a shot at March Madness, but I don't expect it to happen.

8) NC State: Sophomore T.J. Warren leads the league in scoring and freshman Cat Barber is exciting to watch, but the Wolfpack has been too inconsistent this season.  Assuming they don't lose anyone unexpected to the draft or to transfer, watch out for this team next season.

9) Florida State:  FSU is 5-6 in ACC play, yet most bracketologists still have the Noles in the field of 68.  I think FSU needs to get to 10 league wins, and I think they will barely get there.  I see them as an 11-seed in Madness.

10) Wake Forest: I can't take Wake seriously until they get a new coach.  Under Jeff Bzdelik, Wake is 2-28 in ACC road games.  The Demon Deacons are composed almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores so a new coach could bring in results immediately next season.

11) Georgia Tech: The Jackets have been bitten (no pun intended) by the injury bug (no pun intended) this season.  Robert Carter and Trae Golden must be in the lineup if this team expects to win conference games, and they have missed too many games for Georgia Tech to be successful.

12) Notre Dame: Most of the blame for Notre Dame's woes has to fall on Jerian Grant's dismissal from the team for acaemic reasons.  He was one of the five best players in the ACC.  However, even without Grant, Notre Dame should still be in the top half of the league.  They have been the biggest disappointment in the ACC.

13) Miami: In fairness to the U, they have lost five conference games by 5 points or less.  They had Syracuse on the ropes twice.  So, even though they are 13th in the league as I had predicted, they are a much better team than I expected.  They will play spoiler for one or two teams down the stretch.

14) Boston College: I still like Olivier Hanlan's game, but there is not much else positive to say about BC this season.

15) Virginia Tech: I think Devin Wilson could be a quality point guard for four years in Blacksburg, but I don't think Coach James Johnson will be there to see him graduate.

Midseason 1st Team All-ACC

Jabari Parker, Duke (also Player of the Year & Rookie of the Year)
C.J. Fair, Syracuse
Lamar Patterson, Pitt
Rodney Hood, Duke
T.J. Warren, NC State

2nd Team

Tyler Ennis, Syracuse
Malcolm Brogdon, UVA
Marcus Paige, UNC
Olivier Hanlan, BC
K.J. McDaniels, Clemson